


The 26th Shift

by orphan_account



Series: 25 Lives [2]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Gender Issues, Genderswap
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-29
Updated: 2014-04-29
Packaged: 2018-01-21 06:35:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1541171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jonny is going to find Patrick and they’re going to play in the NHL together. Nothing is going to stop her. Nothing.</p><p>A reincarnation AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Two Without You

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my Beta TriumphantDisaster :)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonny's first word is Peekaboo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter titles indicate how old Jonny is. Chapters will be getting longer as Jonny gets older.

"Peek-a-boo!"

Jonny bursts into a fit of giggles. The words make her feel warm and happy. "Peek-a-brue!" The hands covering her eyes disappear and she stops laughing. She turns her head, searching. "Peek-a-brue?" She wails. Something isn't right. "Peek-a-brue! Peek-a-brue!"

"Shhh honey, what's wrong?"

Wrong wrong wrong. She cries, not knowing why. "Peek-a-brue."

Hands cover her eyes. "Peek-a-boo!" The hands go away.

"Peek-a-brue," she pouts. She wants Peek-a-boo. This isn't Peek-a-boo.

 


	2. Five Before Fighting

Jonny has a lot of dreams of things she doesn't understand. There are people screaming her name, bright lights, men wearing red crowding around her, and a feeling that she can't describe, but doesn't ever want to let go of.

Her brother says she needs to get her head out of the clouds, but the dreams feels so real. Besides, he also says that her name isn't Jonny when it is. She hates the name Aria, which her parents insist on calling her. She almost hates it as much as the ballet classes that they sign her up for. She'd rather do boxing, like her brother, but her parents say girls don't do boxing. She doesn't understand why. Sure, she's smaller than her brother, but that's because she's younger.

Her parents tell her that she needs to be more _girly_. She doesn't want to be girly. She doesn’t know what being a girl has to do with anything. Her mom always shakes her head at her, muttering something about how she hopes it's just a phase. Jonny doesn't know what a phase is or why it makes her mom so sad. She thinks it might have to do with the things the kids at school say.

She just thinks that people say too many things. She just wants to be left to her dreams, even though she isn't sure what they mean. All she knows is that she's meant to be doing something and that something isn't being girly. It definitely doesn't have anything to do with being friendly to the kids at school who say mean things to her. She doesn't care about them. She has better things to do during recess than pretending to be a princess. There are books to read. Books have information about everything. They'll tell her about her dreams.

Her favorite book is about Patty Cakes. She imagines one of the men in red reading it to her. She doesn't know his name but he has curly hair and is always smiling as he reads to Jonny. His hands are _huge,_  but when he plays the game with her, his hands are really soft. His voice is really nice even if he never sings the song right. That's okay though, she likes his version better even though it makes no sense.

_Patty Cake, Patty Cake_  
 _I'm your wingman_  
 _Score you a goal_  
 _As fast as I can_

_Patty Cake, Patty Cake_  
 _You'll wear the C_  
 _That's another win_  
 _For Jonny and me!_

Jonny doesn't know what a wingman is, or what wearing a C means, but the curly haired man is always really happy when he sings it, so she doesn't care. She likes it when he's happy. She figures it’s the nice thing to do to indulge him.

 ****  
  



	3. Six For Starting

Jonny finally manages to get her parents to let her quit ballet, but only on the condition that she take up figure skating. She doesn’t even know what that is. At first she’s angry because it's a long drive. Traffic in Chicago is terrible and she hates being in the car. She has a lot of nightmares about cars. She never sees what happens because her nightmares are always pitch black, but she knows it's a car accident because she always hears a screech of tires and the windshield breaks and she's sitting in the front even though she's not old enough and everything hurts, especially her head, and there's someone sitting next to her in the car and he's screaming and sounds scared and hurt and she wants to help him but every time she reaches out to him she wakes up. Jonny doesn't just hate cars. She's terrified of them. But when the car stops and she sees the inside of the skating rink she knows it's worth it. This is...her dreams are in a place like this and it feels...like this is where she belongs. Just breathing in the scent of ice makes her happy. She doesn't know why. What she does know is that the ice is beautiful. And she is going to _carve it up_.

She bounces up and down on the bench as she waits for her mom to bring her skates. She can’t wait. Her mom helps her lace up the skates, but she’s slow at it and doesn’t tie them tight enough.

“Mom, let me do it,” Jonny says, grabbing the laces from her mom’s hands. Her mom tuts.

“You don’t know how to. Let me show you once, then you can do it,” her mom protests, but Jonny is already lacing it up.

“See?” Jonny says once she’s done.

Her mom is looking at her funny. “You don’t know how to tie your shoes, but you can tie skate laces?” Jonny shrugs. Skates just make sense. Shoes don’t.

“Can I go on the ice now?” Jonny doesn’t wait for an answer. She’d only asked to be polite. She wobbles over to the ice, confident that she can do this despite her mother telling her to be careful.

She falls on her butt the second her skates touch the ice. She frowns, glares at her skates, then pushes herself back up. It doesn’t feel right. Something feels off, like the time mom washed Sharpy, her stuffed bunny, without telling her and it didn’t feel soft like anymore and even though she still knew it was Sharpy, it didn’t feel like Sharpy. (The curly haired man named it. For some reason it made him laugh a lot. He’s _really really_ weird. Jonny really shouldn’t indulge him as much as she does.)

Jonny holds onto the railing this time and she doesn’t fall.  After a few minutes she can let go of the railing and not fall. An hour later she’s figured out how to skate backwards. Even though something feels off, skating is ridiculously fun. Her feet are sore by the time she gets off the ice, but her mom is beaming at her like she’s finally done something right and she can’t help but smile back. She thinks figure skating might not be so bad after all.

Then she’s put in a class with about fifteen stuck up girls her age and she realizes that figure skating is, indeed, the worst. The teacher hates her, even though she skates way faster and better than the other girls. She says Jonny needs to bend her back, stretch out her arms, and other stuff that’s supposed to make her look pretty but only makes her feel like an idiot.

Not to mention the ridiculously stupid story they’re supposed to “dance” out. She thought this was skating, not dancing, but no. They’re supposed to be pretending to be swans or something. She’s not even allowed to skate fast because she might _hurt herself_.

One day, they’re getting off the ice late and she sees a bunch of boys walking past them in uniforms, sticks in their hands and helmets on their heads.

“What are they doing?” She asks her teacher.

“They’re playing hockey.”

Jonny watches them as she takes off her skates. It’s almost painful to watch. She thinks she knows what they’re _trying_ to do, but they’re so bad at skating that they’re tripping over each other and moving at snail’s pace even though she bets they’re allowed to skate fast. It’s a miracle the black thing they’re shoving around with their sticks ever makes it into the net. When her mom arrives to take her home, Jonny points to the rink and says, “I want to play hockey.”

Her mom shakes her head, mutters, “Of course you do,” in a really unhappy way. “What’s wrong with figure skating? You’re good at it.” It’s a lie and they both know it.

“I don’t like the outfits and the teacher hates me and it isn’t fun.”

“We already got you figure skating skates and hockey is expensive. I’m sorry honey.” Another lie.

“So is figure skating,” Jonny points out.

Her mother still says no. Jonny asks her dad. He says no too. Her brother asks if he can play hockey, just because he knows their parents will say yes and Jonny will be jealous. Of course, they sign him up for hockey classes right away.

Jonny refuses to leave her room except to go to the bathroom after that. Her mom has to drag her into the car for school and figure skating classes. But she can’t force Jonny to eat or do anything more than sit there.

“You’re going to get hungry or bored eventually,” her mother chides when Jonny skips dinner. Jonny is hungry because she hasn’t eaten for a day and her tummy hurts, but her brother shows off his new hockey stick and that strengthens her resolve. Boredom isn’t a problem. She has Sharpy and she can always dream.

The next day is a weekend, but her mom wakes her up in the morning anyways. Jonny glares at her. “I want to play hockey. It’s not fair. You signed Zach up for classes.”

“Honey, life isn’t fair and you can’t play hockey. Hockey is for boys.”

“I’ll be a boy then.”

“It doesn’t work like that.”

“Well, make it,” Jonny demands. “Or I’ll make it.”

“You can’t make anything happen if you don’t eat and get your strength up.”

It’s a trick. Jonny shakes her head. “I’m not going to eat until you sign me up for hockey and get me a stick and a helmet and uniform like you got Zach.”

"Why do you want to play hockey so bad anyways?" Her mom asks.

Jonny blinks. She doesn't know  _why_ , she just has this feeling. "It's important. I can't explain it, but it is. Please."

Her mom shakes her head, stubborn, and leaves. As she’s at the door she says, “I’m making pancakes. I even have your favorite syrup.” She leaves the door open, so Jonny can smell the pancakes and syrup.

Jonny ignores the rumbling in her belly and the way her mouth waters. Hockey is more important.

That night, when everyone except her is eating dinner, her parents start yelling at each other. There’s a jingle of keys and the front door slams shut. An hour later her dad knocks on her door and walks in, hockey stick in his hands.

“You win kiddo, but just this once. You can’t get things this way. Next time, we’re just going to let you starve to death,” he says as he sits down on the side of her bed.

She nods, grabbing the stick from his hands and inspecting it. “It won’t happen again. This is all I want.” The stick is cool and smooth in her hands. It feels _right_. 

“Now come eat.”

Jonny jumps out of bed and races down the stairs to the kitchen, pigtails bouncing behind her. She’s hungry enough to eat a horse.


End file.
